The Neurobiology of Shame
- The role of shame in traumatic experience
- Shame as an animal defense survival response
- Effects of shame on autonomic arousal
- Why shame is so treatment-resistant
Shame and Attachment: Its Evolutionary Purpose
- Shame and the attachment system
- Rupture and repair in attachment formation
- What happens to shame without interpersonal repair
The Meaning of Shame in the Treatment of Trauma
- Disgust, degradation, and humiliation interpreted as “who I am”
- Cognitive schemas that exacerbate shame
- Internal working models predict the future and determine our actions
Treating Shame: Working from the “Bottom Up”
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Physiological state as the entry point for treatment
- Regulating shame states with somatic interventions
- Using mindfulness-based techniques to inhibit self-judgment
Healing Shame: Acceptance and Compassion
- Re-contextualizing shame as a younger self or part
- Dual awareness of who we are now and who we were then
- Getting to know our “selves”
- Bringing our adult capacity to our childhood vulnerability


